Vehicles such as forklift vehicles must often be carried from one location to another. It is common to do so by carrying the forklift vehicle on the rear end of another vehicle, such as a tractor trailer. However since the forklift vehicle then projects rearwardly from the tractor trailer, the combined length of the two vehicles can be unduly long. In addition the leverage on the rear axle of the tractor trailer, created by the overhanging forklift vehicle, can be unacceptably high. For this reason it is known to have portions of a forklift vehicle which are retractable, so that the vehicle will occupy less length or otherwise will occupy a smaller space.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,237 issued Dec. 6, 1977 shows a forklift vehicle in which the front wheel portion of the vehicle can be retracted to a position such that the front to rear dimension of the vehicle is shortened.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,415 issued Dec. 29, 1992 shows another forklift vehicle in which the front wheels and their support arms can be swung upwardly, again to reduce the front to rear length of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,799,379 issued Mar. 26, 1974 shows yet another forklift vehicle in which the front wheels and their support arms are retractable to reduce the overall length of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,908,849 issued Sep. 30, 1975 shows a form of forklift vehicle which is collapsible to a tripod arrangement, again to reduce the overall length of the vehicle.
The forklift vehicles shown in the above mentioned patents suffer from various difficulties. One of these difficulties is that since the rear wheels in the vehicles shown are not retractable, the over all length of the vehicles remains relatively substantial.